Alaska 2003 Barrow This is Joe. This is Joe's Museum. This is the backstory of Joe's Museum. Joe, Perry and Maria hold a dead animal skull. Joe has one of only two privately owned stuffed polar bears allowed. Diana is having fun yet. This guy isn't. This is the start of The Great Walrus Caper. Bunna with his sister and brother-in-law with the severed head of a walrus and it was entirely Maria's fault. "I claim this dead walrus head in the name of Maria Gates!" Wrong. It is illegal for anyone other than an Inuit to possess walrus tusks. They hooked a chain to the tail of the walrus and hauled it out of the water with the van. This is a very dead walrus. It's time to separate the head from the rest of it. This is accomplished with the liberal application of a rusty sword found under the seat of the van. The final result. Wrapped for transport. Taking it home on the four wheeler. Maria takes a walk on the ice. She even looks happy. I'm freezing. This is the end of the next story. We are plastered. We are leaving Mr. Lee's Chinese/Korean Restaurant. Mr. Lee doesn't serve liquor because having liquor in Barrow is illegal because the Inuit get drunk and freeze to death. Maria, thankfully, doesn't believe in laws so we had a bottle of Sailor Jerry's Rum in a tube sock. That's why we're smashed in the first photo. Mr. Lee likes us because we eat every dinner there and we bring him hooligans. He is bringing us a delicacy. Muktuk. Muktuk is whale blubber. Yep. Looks like candy. Doesn't taste like candy. Tastes like Muktuk. Now for the Great Hooligan Caper. (Bet you thought something else, right?) These are deep fried hooligans. This is a hooligan. It is called other things other places but it's a hooligan in Barrow. They were massing at the shore on walrus afternoon. Perry scooped them up by the handful. Maria, Perry and Bunna bagged them and they dropped a bag off at the senior center for Bunna's grandfather to take home. Perry kept a bag for Mr. Lee. This is so Barrow. « ‹ of 3 › »